We have all read books about Utopia. They are everywhere. Many authors have written literature on what they think our future will be like. It will be a perfect place, where people are happy, they drive to work in hovercars, and the technology is amazing. We imagine Utopia having computers that do chores for you, play whatever television or music we want, and make life perfect.
Now, imagine a world that is the exact opposite. People work nonstop, live in slums, and are constantly watched by the government. You are not allowed to show pleasure or anger. If you commit any action that is against the government, or even think of such an action, you are arrested, tortured, and most likely killed. You are not in control of your thoughts, life, or memories. The government tells you what the past is like and how perfect they have made living for you. Whatever they say is truth. If they tell you that 2+2=5, then it does. The next day, they may tell you that 2+2=3, that is now the truth. They tell you to believe that this is Utopia, therefore, it is. You have just entered the world portrayed in the book, 1984.
A poster of Big Brother.
Big Brother is Watching You
A brief overview of the world that you enter.
The government is called "The Party" and they control everything. The Party is headed by Big Brother. There is no proof that Big Brother is real. He may be a fictitious character created by The Party to give people someone to look up to. There are posters of him everywhere that read "Big Brother is Watching You". The truth is, everyone is constantly being watched through telescreens. Telescreens are used by The Party to watch and listen to everything. The telescreen also emits military music and military updates to keep people excited about the war that is ongoing. The allies and enemies in the war are changing every now and then, but people always believe what The Party says, otherwise they commit what is called thoughtcrime. Thoughtcrime is the crime of thinking or acting against The Party. This crime is punishable by death. If you think anything against The Party or Big Brother, even if it is subconsious, such as in your sleep, you are caught by the Thought Police. You are then either tortured into believing what The Party wants you to believe or you are killed. You must also participate in events such as the Two Minutes Hate and Hate Week. During these events, people are forced to show hate towards enemies of The Party and Big Brother.
The Party's Slogan:
War Is Peace
Freedom Is Slavery
Ignorance Is Strength
This society follows the classic pyramid chart of social classes. People who work for the Inner Party are at the top of the pyramid. They live in fancy house
Social class pyramid.
s away from the lower classes. They have the privelege of turning off the nonstop chatter of the telescreen. Anyone lower than them has to live with the telescreen on at all times. People of the Outer Party get semi-nice houses or apartments. The working class, or "proles" as they are commonly called, live in the slums. People often avoid the proles because they are poor and are of the lowest class.
There are many different jobs in this "perfect world". Jobs range from the factory workers, who may be set to build weapons for the war, all the way to the jobs in The Party. Certain jobs may be to go through records and history and change them so that it agrees with current beliefs or so that they make The Party look good. Other people are set to work on the developement of Newspeak, the language that is going into effect, or to spy on people who may be enemies of The Party.
The Revolution and the Rebellion
According to The Party, the current world is a Utopia. The Revolution occured when the previous society was overthrown and The Party took power. The Party is working to persuade everyone that life before The Revolution was terrible. People were constantly starving and were ruled by people called Capitalists. The Party supposedly overthrew all of this and made a more perfect world for everyone.
There is a rebellion that is being constructed against Big Brother. This rebellion is led by a man named Goldstein, a man who has been deemed an enemy of The Party. The rebellion is called The Brotherhood. He is therefore portrayed as a monster who wishes to disrupt the perfect world that The Party has set up. Little is known of the rebellion or if it actually exists.
Plot Overview
Winston Smith is a normal man who works for the Outer Party. He is married, but his wife left him a long time ago. Winston lives in a single room apartment that he chose because of the small space to one side that is not visible by the teles
Winston Smith.
creen. In this space, he starts writing an illegal journal against Big Brother and The Party. He starts explaining all that is wrong with the current world. How people start becoming pawns from birth. They are bred to love Big Brother. They start their life of dedication to The Party by spying on their parents. Children aren't afraid to turn their parents over to the Thought Police.
Winston works for the Ministry of Truth, one of four ministries that make up The Party. The Ministry of Truth is in control over the media of the past and present. Winston works in the Records Department. His job is to go over historical records and revise them in a way that makes The Party look beneficial and all-knowing. All original documents are destroyed and replaced by the revised version, which becomes the true version.
During a Two Minutes Hate session, he notices an Inner Party worker, O'Brien. Winston immediately feels a connection to O'Brien, like O'Brien knows the truth behind The Party and possibly an escape from it. Though, Winston knows that to approach him is suspicious and most likely dangerous.
Winston is constantly trying to find out the truth behind The Party. He finds himself asking an elderly prole what the time before The Revolution was like. This fails miserably. On his way home, he sees a woman who he recognizes from work. Naturally, Winston believes that she is a spy.
On a normal day at work, Winston notices the woman in the hallway. She trips and hands him a note as he helps her up. When he returns to his desk, Winston opens the note to read it. Inside is the printing "I love you". This begins Winstons illegal relationship with the girl, Julia. They rent out a room in a prole living area that they believe is secret.
Later, Winston is approached by O'Brien, and they set up a meeting together. At their meeting, O'Brien supposedly inducts Winston and Julia into The Brotherhood. They recieve a copy of "the book" which has the Brotherhood's truth behind all of The Party's doings and the truth behind their motto.
Then, on a completely routine day, when Julia and Winston are in their secret room, they are arrested by the Thought Police. The owner of the shop where their room was located was secretly a member of the Thought Police. They are taken to the Ministry of Love, the center of the Thought Police network. There, Winston is locked up with a group of other people in a small room tah tcontains four telescreens. prisoners come and go. Some know that they are to be tortured, and some go insane when they are told that they are going to be taken to Room 101.
Eventually, a group of Thought Police come for Winston. To his surprise, Winston meets with O'Brien, who had been working for the Thought Police the entire time. Winston is taken and tortured. He is tortured in hopes that he will accept what The Party wants him to believe. They torture him so that he will accept the teachings of The Party and that he will love Big Brother. Winston keeps resisting. He accepts pain over living a lie. He goes against what O'Brien tells him, even though he knows he will be tortured. This all ends in Room 101. In Room 101, prisoners are to face the only fear that they cannot stand up to. In Winston's case, this is rats. Winston is to have his face eaten off by rats. The only way he can stop this is to show selfishness, to show that he only cares for himself. He does so by telling O'Brien to have the rats eat Julia's face. He shows that he cares more for himself than the woman that he loves.
Winston is then taught to accept The Party. He is taught how and why things are as they are.
The story ends with Winston in the canteen, drinking, playing chess, and listening to the telescreen. The story ends "He gazed up at the enormous face [of Big Brother]. Forty years it had taken him to learn what kind of smile was hidden beneath the dark mustache. O cruel, needless misunderstanding! O stubborn, self-willed exile from the loving breast! Two ginscented tears trickled down the sides of his nose. But it was alright, everything was all right, the struggle was finished. He had won the victory over himself. He loved Big Brother."
Ian's Review of 1984
I loved this book. The plot was amazing and the lessons of this story are excellent. I love it when books don't end the way you think they will. I also like books that don't have a happy plot line, they make for stronger reactions. Throughout the entire process of reading 1984, I felt that it would continue to have a depressing storyline, up until the end, where Big Brother would be overthrown and the world would become a better place. I was completely wrong. It ended with the assimilation of the main character and ended on an even more depressing tone. The world did not return to its correct state, it continued as the terrible state that it was in during the entire story.
This book was put on the Outstanding Books list because it is just that, an outstanding book. This book is a masterpiece of literature. It sets an amazing environment and the plot grabs onto you and never lets go. I like the way this book strays from most futuristic books. Most books of this nature are either positive portrayals of the future, or negative portrayals that end in a positive manner. This book didn't. This book painted a dismal picture of the future and ended with an even worse feeling than when it began.
The symbolism byehind this book is fantastic. In a way, this book gives us an exagerated portrayal of modern society. Even though this book was written in 1949, it still holds true. And it still holds its position as an amazing piece of literature.
I would definately recommend this book to people. I don't recommend it for younger readers or people who don't like books that make you think. But, if you enjoy books that have strong meanings and you aren't afraid to read something a little more challenging, then go for it. This book is amazing. I'd expecially recommend this to people who enjoy books in the Sci-Fi genre. Even though it doesn't really have a Sci-Fi feel to it, it is still a book that portrays a dim future and that's what brought me to read it.
1984
By George Orwell
We have all read books about Utopia. They are everywhere. Many authors have written literature on what they think our future will be like. It will be a perfect place, where people are happy, they drive to work in hovercars, and the technology is amazing. We imagine Utopia having computers that do chores for you, play whatever television or music we want, and make life perfect.
Now, imagine a world that is the exact opposite. People work nonstop, live in slums, and are constantly watched by the government. You are not allowed to show pleasure or anger. If you commit any action that is against the government, or even think of such an action, you are arrested, tortured, and most likely killed. You are not in control of your thoughts, life, or memories. The government tells you what the past is like and how perfect they have made living for you. Whatever they say is truth. If they tell you that 2+2=5, then it does. The next day, they may tell you that 2+2=3, that is now the truth. They tell you to believe that this is Utopia, therefore, it is. You have just entered the world portrayed in the book, 1984.
Big Brother is Watching You
A brief overview of the world that you enter.
The government is called "The Party" and they control everything. The Party is headed by Big Brother. There is no proof that Big Brother is real. He may be a fictitious character created by The Party to give people someone to look up to. There are posters of him everywhere that read "Big Brother is Watching You". The truth is, everyone is constantly being watched through telescreens. Telescreens are used by The Party to watch and listen to everything. The telescreen also emits military music and military updates to keep people excited about the war that is ongoing. The allies and enemies in the war are changing every now and then, but people always believe what The Party says, otherwise they commit what is called thoughtcrime. Thoughtcrime is the crime of thinking or acting against The Party. This crime is punishable by death. If you think anything against The Party or Big Brother, even if it is subconsious, such as in your sleep, you are caught by the Thought Police. You are then either tortured into believing what The Party wants you to believe or you are killed. You must also participate in events such as the Two Minutes Hate and Hate Week. During these events, people are forced to show hate towards enemies of The Party and Big Brother.
The Party's Slogan:
War Is Peace
Freedom Is Slavery
Ignorance Is Strength
This society follows the classic pyramid chart of social classes. People who work for the Inner Party are at the top of the pyramid. They live in fancy house
There are many different jobs in this "perfect world". Jobs range from the factory workers, who may be set to build weapons for the war, all the way to the jobs in The Party. Certain jobs may be to go through records and history and change them so that it agrees with current beliefs or so that they make The Party look good. Other people are set to work on the developement of Newspeak, the language that is going into effect, or to spy on people who may be enemies of The Party.
The Revolution and the Rebellion
According to The Party, the current world is a Utopia. The Revolution occured when the previous society was overthrown and The Party took power. The Party is working to persuade everyone that life before The Revolution was terrible. People were constantly starving and were ruled by people called Capitalists. The Party supposedly overthrew all of this and made a more perfect world for everyone.
There is a rebellion that is being constructed against Big Brother. This rebellion is led by a man named Goldstein, a man who has been deemed an enemy of The Party. The rebellion is called The Brotherhood. He is therefore portrayed as a monster who wishes to disrupt the perfect world that The Party has set up. Little is known of the rebellion or if it actually exists.
Plot Overview
Winston Smith is a normal man who works for the Outer Party. He is married, but his wife left him a long time ago. Winston lives in a single room apartment that he chose because of the small space to one side that is not visible by the teles
Winston works for the Ministry of Truth, one of four ministries that make up The Party. The Ministry of Truth is in control over the media of the past and present. Winston works in the Records Department. His job is to go over historical records and revise them in a way that makes The Party look beneficial and all-knowing. All original documents are destroyed and replaced by the revised version, which becomes the true version.
During a Two Minutes Hate session, he notices an Inner Party worker, O'Brien. Winston immediately feels a connection to O'Brien, like O'Brien knows the truth behind The Party and possibly an escape from it. Though, Winston knows that to approach him is suspicious and most likely dangerous.
Winston is constantly trying to find out the truth behind The Party. He finds himself asking an elderly prole what the time before The Revolution was like. This fails miserably. On his way home, he sees a woman who he recognizes from work. Naturally, Winston believes that she is a spy.
On a normal day at work, Winston notices the woman in the hallway. She trips and hands him a note as he helps her up. When he returns to his desk, Winston opens the note to read it. Inside is the printing "I love you". This begins Winstons illegal relationship with the girl, Julia. They rent out a room in a prole living area that they believe is secret.
Later, Winston is approached by O'Brien, and they set up a meeting together. At their meeting, O'Brien supposedly inducts Winston and Julia into The Brotherhood. They recieve a copy of "the book" which has the Brotherhood's truth behind all of The Party's doings and the truth behind their motto.
Then, on a completely routine day, when Julia and Winston are in their secret room, they are arrested by the Thought Police. The owner of the shop where their room was located was secretly a member of the Thought Police. They are taken to the Ministry of Love, the center of the Thought Police network. There, Winston is locked up with a group of other people in a small room tah tcontains four telescreens. prisoners come and go. Some know that they are to be tortured, and some go insane when they are told that they are going to be taken to Room 101.
Eventually, a group of Thought Police come for Winston. To his surprise, Winston meets with O'Brien, who had been working for the Thought Police the entire time. Winston is taken and tortured. He is tortured in hopes that he will accept what The Party wants him to believe. They torture him so that he will accept the teachings of The Party and that he will love Big Brother. Winston keeps resisting. He accepts pain over living a lie. He goes against what O'Brien tells him, even though he knows he will be tortured. This all ends in Room 101. In Room 101, prisoners are to face the only fear that they cannot stand up to. In Winston's case, this is rats. Winston is to have his face eaten off by rats. The only way he can stop this is to show selfishness, to show that he only cares for himself. He does so by telling O'Brien to have the rats eat Julia's face. He shows that he cares more for himself than the woman that he loves.
Winston is then taught to accept The Party. He is taught how and why things are as they are.
The story ends with Winston in the canteen, drinking, playing chess, and listening to the telescreen. The story ends "He gazed up at the enormous face [of Big Brother]. Forty years it had taken him to learn what kind of smile was hidden beneath the dark mustache. O cruel, needless misunderstanding! O stubborn, self-willed exile from the loving breast! Two ginscented tears trickled down the sides of his nose. But it was alright, everything was all right, the struggle was finished. He had won the victory over himself. He loved Big Brother."
Ian's Review of 1984
I loved this book. The plot was amazing and the lessons of this story are excellent. I love it when books don't end the way you think they will. I also like books that don't have a happy plot line, they make for stronger reactions. Throughout the entire process of reading 1984, I felt that it would continue to have a depressing storyline, up until the end, where Big Brother would be overthrown and the world would become a better place. I was completely wrong. It ended with the assimilation of the main character and ended on an even more depressing tone. The world did not return to its correct state, it continued as the terrible state that it was in during the entire story.
This book was put on the Outstanding Books list because it is just that, an outstanding book. This book is a masterpiece of literature. It sets an amazing environment and the plot grabs onto you and never lets go. I like the way this book strays from most futuristic books. Most books of this nature are either positive portrayals of the future, or negative portrayals that end in a positive manner. This book didn't. This book painted a dismal picture of the future and ended with an even worse feeling than when it began.
The symbolism byehind this book is fantastic. In a way, this book gives us an exagerated portrayal of modern society. Even though this book was written in 1949, it still holds true. And it still holds its position as an amazing piece of literature.
I would definately recommend this book to people. I don't recommend it for younger readers or people who don't like books that make you think. But, if you enjoy books that have strong meanings and you aren't afraid to read something a little more challenging, then go for it. This book is amazing. I'd expecially recommend this to people who enjoy books in the Sci-Fi genre. Even though it doesn't really have a Sci-Fi feel to it, it is still a book that portrays a dim future and that's what brought me to read it.
Citations
~1984, written by George Orwell, Copyright Harcourt Inc., 1949~Big Brother Poster, 11 Nov. 2007 <http://fanpotai.wordpress.com/2007/05/02/one-camera-for-every-14-people-in-uk/>
~Social Class Pyramid, 11 Nov. 2007 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:1984_Social_Classes_alt.svg>
~Winston Smith, 11 Nov. 2007 <http://www.orwell.ru/a_life/movies/img/m84_2.jpg>